PEZA gets P10.8 billion commitments from Japan investment mission

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) was able to secure P10.8 billion worth of investment commitments from a Japan outbound mission, in line with its continued effort to pitch the country’s ecozones to foreign investors.

In a statement yesterday, the PEZA said it participated in a five-day outbound mission to Japan from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.

PEZA director-general Tereso Panga said the mission was able to secure investment commitments from Japanese companies, particularly P7.2 billion from TDK Corp.; P1.6 billion from Taiyo Yuden, and P1 billion each from Terumo Corp. and Almex Technologies.

“Taiyo Yuden CO., LTD. has an investment plan to operate their business in Taiyo Yuden (Philippines), Inc. We are proud to have locators such as Taiyo Yuden grow inside PEZA’s ecosystem since 1989. The ongoing investment plan covers the calendar year 2023-2024, with the total investment amounting to P1.6 billion. This signifies a continued era of trust and confidence in the country’s investment facilitation climate,” Panga said.

PEZA said Taiyo Yuden has introduced a state-of-the-art metal power inductor, featuring cutting-edge technology. The Philippine facility marks the initial manufacturing location outside of Japan for this product.

The new product is the world’s first multilayer-type metal power inductor with the latest multilayer technology and its unique metal material characteristics.

In contrast, TDK Corp., an electronics manufacturing company that uses leading magnetic technology, will have its first expansion from 2023 to 2026 while its second expansion will begin in 2024. TDK’s new product is a bio-magnetic sensor for monitoring heartbeats.

PEZA disclosed that there are other promising investment opportunities in the pipeline, including a potential partnership with Kiraboshi Bank, LTD.

“As one of the largest regional banks in Tokyo, Japan, Kiraboshi Bank caters to a large network of enterprise clients, including PEZA registration-eligible business enterprises,” the PEZA said.

It said its talks with the SME Support JAPAN led to the possible inclusion of the Philippines in the conduct of CEO Business Meetings that will allow direct linkage between Japanese SMEs and PEZA registered business enterprises. The PEZA said it considers the partnership as a promising prospect since the Philippines is in a position to address the human resource needs of Japanese SMEs that are looking to expand operations.

Kaneko Cord Co., Ltd., a company engaged in various industries, such as the production of electrical wires, cables, and the manufacture of medical tubes and caviar productions,  expressed interest in transferring its Japan-based operations to the Philippines.

Meltec Corp. also disclosed plans to expand operations in the Philippines due to the country’s strategic location to its clients and the presence of Filipino workers with high-quality skills and positive attitude.

As part of the outbound business mission, the PEZA participated in an investment forum organized by Junca Global Holdings, and a series of business-to-business (B2B) meetings that capitalized on investment leads sought by PEZA, and those from Sumitomo Corporation and the First Philippines Industrial Park, Inc. (FPIP), one of PEZA’s leading developer-operators.